The meeting, to be held at the Hilton Atlanta, includes a sweeping program carefully designed to meet the needs of practitioners in a wide variety of settings.

To help attendees focus on their area of interest, sessions are organized into tracks: Advanced Practice, Clinical Practice, Management/Leadership, Current Hot Topic or Issue and Pharmacology Content. All courses are presented by the specialtys leading experts.

Participants will also network, attend special events and earn continuing nursing education contact hours. In the exhibit hall, attendees will meet with vendors displaying the latest products, technologies and services.

More information about the ANNA Fall Meeting and a complete registration brochure are available on ANNAs Web site, www.annanurse.org.

ProgramThere will be five optional preconference workshops this year (three full-day sessions and two half-day sessions). The full day sessions, to be offered on Friday, September 23, are The RN New to Nephrology Practice, Making the Transition as a New APN into Nephrology Practice, and The New Nephrology Nurse Manager.

The half day sessions will follow on Saturday and are Threat Assessment: Recognizing and Defusing Potentially Violent Situations, and Preserving Residual Renal Function.

The conferences opening general session will follow, with Jean Jenkins, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Clinical Advisor at the National Human Genome Research Institute, presenting Genomics and Nursing: Advancing the Profession. Dr. Jenkins will explain the impact of The Genome Project on medical treatments as well as the implications to the nursing profession.

Concurrent sessions will be held Sunday and Monday, with a wide slate of topics that include:

Professionalism in the Workplace

Assessing Competency to Consent to Treatment

Moral Courage and the Nurse Leader

Immunizations

Reading and Using Research to Improve Practice

Common Dermatologic Conditions in Chronic Kidney Disease

Renal Transplantation and Delayed Graft Function

On Monday, September 26, Alex Rosenblum, BSRN, RN, CNN, Vice President, Quality Improvement, Fresenius Medical Care, will present the closing session, Humor in the Workplace: Its Good for You! Rosenblum will explore the medical benefits of laughter and how it can reduce stress in the nephrology workplace.

Continuing EducationAttendees can earn up to 12.75 continuing nursing education (CNE) contact hours, plus additional contact hours for the preconference workshops. Up to 345 minutes of pharmacology credit is available at the conference.

ANNA is accredited as a provider and approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center-Commission on Accreditation (ANCC-COA).

Certification ExamsOn Friday, September 23, the Nephrology Nursing Certification Commission (NNCC) will offer the Certified Nephrology Nurse (CNN) exam, the Certified Dialysis Nurse (CDN) exam, the Certified Nephrology Nurse-Nurse Practitioner (CNN-NP) exam, and the Certified Clinical Hemodialysis Technician (CCHT) exam. A separate registration fee and form are required for each exam. For more information, contact the NNCC National Office at 888-884-6622 or 856-256-2321. Applications may also be downloaded on the NNCC Web site, www.nncc-exam.org.

ANNA is a professional nursing association with over 11,000 members. ANNA will promote excellence by advancing nephrology nursing practice and positively influence outcomes for individuals with kidney disease.